Tuesday, February 16, 2010

The Bad News, then the Good News

And a mini-survey at the end!

I have not posted in a while ~ I have been distracted by a strange phenomenon in our house that is making me crazy! Ever since the first foot of snow fell a little over a week ago, there has been an odor in the house that I can only describe as what you would smell if you stuck your face right behind an idling automobile. Only much fainter, since I am the only one who can smell this. Oh, the frustration of having a top-notch sense of smell!

The furnace guy came on Saturday and told me there is nothing wrong with the furnace and charged me $117. Thank you very much. My hubby, bless his heart, came home yesterday with a $22 furnace filter, thinking the bargain filters we have been using were not doing the job. No change. My son thinks it is all in my head. I guess I must not have taught him how to be sympathetic. Too late now, he'll be 20 years old in 4 days.

I have tried turning off the furnace for most of the day (not recommended). I have tried turning UP the thermostat to blast it out of the house (ridiculous, not recommended either) So far I have not hit on the solution, or the problem for that matter. Our latest thinking is that some of that 2+ feet of snow is clogging the chimney through which the hot water heater vents (the furnace vents out the side of the house thank goodness). If you have seen our roof, which of course you haven't, I'll look for a picture, you would agree that going up there now is out of the question. So my next plan of attack is to wait for a sunny day with the temp above freezing, to melt some of that snow.

I just found a pic (and now I am really longing for warmer, sunnier days). Wish I had a snowy one, but you get the idea of climbing 3 stories onto one of the steepest roofs (rooves?) in the neighborhood to look at the chimney. Not going to happen.

Wow, I just realized I have rambled for 4 paragraphs explaining why I have not posted recently. You can see I am a little obsessed with this smelly problem.

If you are still with me, I will now get to the GOOD NEWS. Ahem.

I have been the incredibly lucky winner of Plumrose Lane's One World One Heart giveaway! She has created a blog background and all the accessories with the "magic carpet" theme, and it is gorgeous and all mine!

The rich blue-purple colors give it a sense of mystery and magic. And I love the banner with all the sparkly fairy dust behind the magic carpet!

Isn't it gorgeous?

Now I must decide if I want to use it on this blog or start a second blog (terrifying, but I've already been thinking about it).

Those of you who have more than one blog: Is it difficult to keep up with multiple blogs? What was your reason for starting more than one blog? Any other thoughts on having multiple blogs? I'd be eternally grateful for comments on this.

12 comments:

wow you have been busy. We have had that problem and it turned out being a dead rat in the sellar no fun I had just had my 4 wisdoms pulled and THAT SMELL is aweful. Wish I could help ya solve the problem :( The Blog thing I have 4 and keep up on them well. I have been toying the idea of using Cool Steel more but everyone knows me on blog land so much better as Pics by Shell. In Etsy though I am called Cool Steel in the virtual labs. Would not hurt to try it. That back grould you won is awesome!!!!Good luck my friend.Shel

Hope you get to the bottom of the phantom smell without spending too much money Maggie!

Plumrose Lane graphics are always beautiful, but that blue is stunning - congrats on your win! Have no advice about running 2 blogs as it takes me all my time to run one - you're a better woman than me lol!

I'd assume that two blogs would be similar to having two Etsy shops, one will probabloy get more attention than the other. I guess the best way to deal with that is to schedule posts for each blog so that you can stay on top of both.

Your phantom smell sounds like something I'd worry about too; carbon monoxide isn't something I'd like to ignore. I know Carbon Monoxide is oderless but that smell would get me tied in knots too.

ooo... i hate it when i can't pin point a smell as well ... sorry i can't help you on this one,but if the smell you say smells like the ekzos of a car... that's carbon monoxide and that's not very healthy. hope you get it sorted soon my fren. :)

on the good news ... oh yea!! i saw the post sharon wrote :) congrats my fren... her backgrounds are to die for! as for starting another blog. just make sure you are ready for it :) i was ambitious when i started blogging ... i still hold 4 different blogs but the other three are close to being abandoned *sigh* ... in the end, i still stuck to only pimp & paint. i wanted to separate all the stuff i liked in different blogs ... i have one on fitness, one on crystals and one just for rambling about me and my baby. but since the emergence of facebook ... all but p & P have been neglected. so i say think about it before you start another.

Good luck on sorting out your smell issues, I know it can be infuriating to not be able to track something like that down!

As for the blog issues, I actually have three- one I started designing but haven't as yet gotten off the ground for my family's sustainable farm and the other was a family blog that I pretty much abandoned with the advent of Facebook (not that I've been especially active there lately either:)) For me, it's all I can do to manage my art blog, read and comment on other folks blogs and still squeeze in time to make said art for my blog! Then there's all the other responsibilities of life tht are actually supposed to come first......how dare my kitchen floor need mopping, or the toilets need wiping or my children actually need attention from me! Don't they know that I have a painting to complete......lol, I guess I'm lucky to have more that needs doing than time to do it, imagine how bored I'd be otherwise;)Good luck on double blogging my friend and grats on your gorgeous new background!

Congrats on your win, it is so pretty. I have no idea what your smeller is smelling but I know it can drive you crazy. I hope you find it soon and let us know. Could it be in your plumbing? Just a thought.

Congrats on your win Magpie, I love it and this one also. As for doing 2 blogs you would be a better gal than I, I have enough trouble coping with one and all the other stuff I have to do.

As for your smell, which is very annoying, if you are worried about carbon monoxide can you not buy a detector to sense the carbon monoxide for you. If you lived a bit nearer my hubster has them on his van (his a Gas Engineer you see!!) He always says you cant smell it, it really is odourless thats why they make the detectors. Not that he can smell anything anyway or hear anything for that matter, he's getting old bless him!! Sorry I cant help any further!!! Hope you get is sorted soon, my love. x

Angie, I'm with you; I think I will just revamp my one blog for now. I'd like this one to be the best it can be before starting a new one!

Tami, ditto, I think one is enough for now.

Kimbuktu, no gas dryer, it's electric, so at least it's not that!

Luthien, if even you with the boundless energy are neglecting 3 of your blogs, there's no hope for me LOL! I don't know how you accomplish all that you do, and with a little one too!

Catherine, thanks for the good wishes!

Stephanie, I like your glass-half-full comment! How bored we would be with not enough to do!! HA

Nancy, The plumbing suggestion is good. But my hubby is a plumber (who now works for the phone company go figure), so our plumbing is in pretty good order, since he re-plumbed the whole house. What I'm saying is, I better not even suggest to him that it may be the plumbing LOL!!

Audrey, your comment is one I have been telling myself a lot. Just think ~ soon we will be able to open the windows and let the sunshine and fresh air in!

Elaine, we do have one of those carbon monoxide detectors. And it just sits there doing nothing except beeping occasionally to say the battery is low. Nothing else. So right now I am thinking this is mainly annoying and not too dangerous, except to my mental health!!

I have to agree with Luthien, I just basically suspended my MMS blog because I can't keep up with it anymore so wouldn't recommend that direction. Which means I'll be getting your set ready for this blog. ;-)

I sure wish I could help you with the odor problem because I've got that type of nose too and have no doubt it's driving you crazy. Looks as though so many have thought of great ideas though so the only thing I can think of is recommending a chimney sweep. They'll come year 'round so the weather shouldn't be an issue nor the height of your roof. Sure hope it gets resolved soon though and hang in there!♥